Martin, TN – Less than 24 hours after taking the UT Martin Skyhawks to five sets, the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears found themselves on the wrong end of another five-set match with the UAB Blazers on Friday afternoon at the Skyhawk Invitational. The Sugar Bears fell behind 2-0 to the Blazers and nearly pulled off three straight victories to steal the win. Senior Samantha Anderson dominated in the kills department with a season and game high 24 while sophomore Bailey Waddington recorded a season high 50 assists. Three other Sugar Bears finished with double digit kills. Blazers sophomore Shelby Holderfield finished with 55 assists on the day and three Blazers finished with 12+ kills.
 
The Sugar Bears controlled the tempo early in the first set after three different Sugar Bear kills to give them the 4-1 lead. After a kill by Blazers redshirt-sophomore Emma Mitchell tied it up at 8-8, UAB never looked back. A kill by senior Haley Tippett and an attack error by the Blazers made it 18-14 UAB, but the Sugar Bears never got closer as the Blazers closed the first set on a 7-2 run and won 25-16.

The first 10 points of the second set saw three ties as both teams traded points early. After the third tie at 5-all, the Blazers went on a 4-0 run to create some distance from the Sugar Bears. Central Arkansas took their first lead of the set coming off a 4-0 run of their own to make it 16-15. The last 21 points of the set saw nine ties and the Blazers escaped with a 27-25 win off of back-to-back Sugar Bear attack errors.

The Sugar Bears mentality shifted as they opened set three on an 11-4 run, sparked by four Anderson kills in the spurt. The Sugar Bears had control of the game until the Blazers went on a 6-0 run to close the Sugar Bears lead to 22-21. Thanks to two Blazer errors and a kill from senior Savanah Allen, the Sugar Bears won 25-21.

The fourth set was tight from beginning to end as the biggest lead for either team was three. The first 20 points delivered five ties and four lead changes and would continue to go back and forth until the Sugar Bears went on a 3-0 run and made it 20-17. The Blazers responded with a quick 5-2 run to even it back at 22-all after a couple errors by the Sugar Bears. The Blazers had a chance to end the match with a 25-24 lead, but a clutch kill from freshman Lexi Miller made it 25-all. After both teams swapped a point, an Anderson kill and Blazers attack error lead the Sugar Bears to the 28-26 win to advance it to the fifth set.

The Blazers held an early 6-4 lead in set five before the Sugar Bears went on a 5-0 run to make it 9-6. Mitchell and Allen both provided a kill and the Blazers did the rest to help lead the Sugar Bears in the run. The Blazers came back after a 4-1 run of their own and tied the set at 10-all. After back-to-back Sugar Bear kills and a Blazers error, the Sugar Bears led 13-10 and then watched as the Blazers closed the set on a 4-1 run to take the match. Anderson's 27^th kill made it 14-all, but back-to-back Blazer kills sealed the Sugar Bears fate.

The Sugar Bears fell to 3-2 on the season and the Blazers improved to 3-1. The Sugar Bears close Skyhawk Invitational play tomorrow with two matches. The first match against the Memphis Tigers starts at 11 a.m. and the last match against the Florida A&M Rattlers begins at 3 p.m.